Why hire a city attorney?

Published: Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 05:17 PM.

Piles of paper, manila folders and sticky notes are stacked neatly into rows and columns atop two large desks in the Burlington City Attorney’s office.

Sliding behind the desk, interim City Attorney Charles Bateman puts his hands on top of it.

“The work is overwhelming,” he said.

THE CITY OF Burlington is in the process of hiring a new municipal attorney. The City Council met for a five-hour closed session to interview its top three candidates Thursday morning, and is set to meet again in closed session Monday night.

Bateman, who served as Burlington’s first full-time attorney from 1968 to 1972, has filled in part-time as the city’s legal counsel since 2011.

“Are you familiar with the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike?” he said. “That is what I am doing. I have my finger in the dike.”

As the city of Mebane’s attorney for more than 40 years, Bateman said, he knows what to look for, and that helps make the work flow much smoother. He stressed, however, that more hours needed to be put into the position and it takes time for someone with less experience.

“There’s not many who’ve done it for 40 years,” he said. “It would be unrealistic to find someone else with that type of experience. I am not saying it isn’t possible, but it’s unrealistic for this to be a part-time position.”

WHILE THERE ISN’T an average day for a city attorney, Bateman said he spent the better part of Wednesday reviewing a $2.5 million contact for a large public works project, helping create a new right-of-way project, and doing preliminary work on the newly approved public transit system. On Thursday he met with a consultant to discuss rewriting the city’s municipal code. Each contract and ordinance, some stretching dozens of pages, takes time to review to protect the public and the city.

Bob Ward served as the city’s attorney for nearly 40 years before retiring to run for Burlington City Council, winning his seat in 2011.

“There is a considerable amount of activity,” he said. “It’s similar to an iceberg, with more of it below the surface than above water.”

In his last five or six years as city attorney, Ward said, he managed 259 legal agreements, 36 annexations, 38 lawsuits involving the city, 56 tax lawsuits, 26 ordinance changes and numerous personnel issues, researched hundreds of legal matters, handled public records requests, and served as the City Council’s legal counsel.

“With that kind of volume, it is hard for a person to do it on a part-time basis,” Ward said. “It’s extremely difficult. There is a lot of interaction reviewing information, and back and forth with city staff.”

CITIES ACROSS North Carolina run the gamut in how much or how little they call upon their attorneys, said Frayda Bluestein, UNC School of Government David M. Lawrence distinguished professor of public law and government, but it is usually affected by the size of the unit and the activities in which the city is involved. Most cities in North Carolina use a contracted attorney, Bluestein said.

“It’s up to the unit to determine whether to hire an attorney as an employee or contract with someone to serve in an independent contractor role, and whether to use full-time or part-time services,” Bluestein said. “That determination is up to the governing board, based on its sense of how it will use the services of an attorney and how much need there is.”

THE CITY HAS been fortunate to have had two skilled attorneys to oversee operations, but the city could no longer wait to hire a full-time attorney, City Manager Harold Owen said.

“This is an organization that has about a $75 million a year operation, between water and sewer and the general fund, tons of contracts, sensitive things like police,” he said. “We have 516 full-time positions and about 450 part-time positions, so there are personnel issues you deal with. If you look at most cities our size, they have multiple city attorneys."

Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published
without permission. Links are encouraged.

Piles of paper, manila folders and sticky notes are stacked neatly into rows and columns atop two large desks in the Burlington City Attorney’s office.

Sliding behind the desk, interim City Attorney Charles Bateman puts his hands on top of it.

“The work is overwhelming,” he said.

THE CITY OF Burlington is in the process of hiring a new municipal attorney. The City Council met for a five-hour closed session to interview its top three candidates Thursday morning, and is set to meet again in closed session Monday night.

Bateman, who served as Burlington’s first full-time attorney from 1968 to 1972, has filled in part-time as the city’s legal counsel since 2011.

“Are you familiar with the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike?” he said. “That is what I am doing. I have my finger in the dike.”

As the city of Mebane’s attorney for more than 40 years, Bateman said, he knows what to look for, and that helps make the work flow much smoother. He stressed, however, that more hours needed to be put into the position and it takes time for someone with less experience.

“There’s not many who’ve done it for 40 years,” he said. “It would be unrealistic to find someone else with that type of experience. I am not saying it isn’t possible, but it’s unrealistic for this to be a part-time position.”

WHILE THERE ISN’T an average day for a city attorney, Bateman said he spent the better part of Wednesday reviewing a $2.5 million contact for a large public works project, helping create a new right-of-way project, and doing preliminary work on the newly approved public transit system. On Thursday he met with a consultant to discuss rewriting the city’s municipal code. Each contract and ordinance, some stretching dozens of pages, takes time to review to protect the public and the city.

Bob Ward served as the city’s attorney for nearly 40 years before retiring to run for Burlington City Council, winning his seat in 2011.

“There is a considerable amount of activity,” he said. “It’s similar to an iceberg, with more of it below the surface than above water.”

In his last five or six years as city attorney, Ward said, he managed 259 legal agreements, 36 annexations, 38 lawsuits involving the city, 56 tax lawsuits, 26 ordinance changes and numerous personnel issues, researched hundreds of legal matters, handled public records requests, and served as the City Council’s legal counsel.

“With that kind of volume, it is hard for a person to do it on a part-time basis,” Ward said. “It’s extremely difficult. There is a lot of interaction reviewing information, and back and forth with city staff.”

CITIES ACROSS North Carolina run the gamut in how much or how little they call upon their attorneys, said Frayda Bluestein, UNC School of Government David M. Lawrence distinguished professor of public law and government, but it is usually affected by the size of the unit and the activities in which the city is involved. Most cities in North Carolina use a contracted attorney, Bluestein said.

“It’s up to the unit to determine whether to hire an attorney as an employee or contract with someone to serve in an independent contractor role, and whether to use full-time or part-time services,” Bluestein said. “That determination is up to the governing board, based on its sense of how it will use the services of an attorney and how much need there is.”

THE CITY HAS been fortunate to have had two skilled attorneys to oversee operations, but the city could no longer wait to hire a full-time attorney, City Manager Harold Owen said.

“This is an organization that has about a $75 million a year operation, between water and sewer and the general fund, tons of contracts, sensitive things like police,” he said. “We have 516 full-time positions and about 450 part-time positions, so there are personnel issues you deal with. If you look at most cities our size, they have multiple city attorneys."